Apparatus and methods for non-uniform downsampling of captured panoramic images

1. A computing device, comprising: a processing apparatus; and a non-transitory computer readable apparatus comprising a storage medium have one or more instructions stored thereon, the one or more instructions being configured to, when executed by the processing apparatus, cause the computing device to: receive captured images, the received captured images obtained using respective image sensors, each of the captured images being associated with a resolution density across each of the received captured images which varies as a function of viewing angle relative to a respective image sensor; non-uniformly downsample the received captured images, the non-uniform downsample comprising a downsample across each of the received captured images as a function of the resolution density; and encode the non-uniformly downsampled images.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein two of the received captured images each possesses an overlapping field of view and a singular field of view, and the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images comprises: a downsample of the singular field of view that is greater than a downsample of the overlapping field of view.

3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more instructions are further configured to, when executed by the processing apparatus, cause the computing device to: stitch the non-uniformly downsampled images.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more instructions are further configured to, when executed by the processing apparatus, cause the computing device to: receive an indication of an area of interest within the received captured images, the area of interest comprising a subset of the received captured images; wherein the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images is performed in accordance with the received indication.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images comprises a flattening of a resolution density curve associated with the captured images.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images comprises an increase in curvature of a resolution density curve associated with the captured images.

7. A method of encoding captured images, comprising: receiving the captured images, the captured images obtained using two or more image sensors; in accordance with varying resolution densities associated with the received captured images, non-uniformly downsampling the received captured images, the varying resolution densities corresponding at least to varying amounts of imaging information captured using the two or more image sensors; and encoding the non-uniformly downsampled images.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein two of the received captured images each possesses an overlapping field of view and a singular field of view, and the non-uniform downsampling of the received captured images comprises: downsampling the singular field of view that is greater than a downsample of the overlapping field of view.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising stitching the non-uniformly downsampled images.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising: receiving an indication of an area of interest within the captured images, the area of interest comprising a subset of the captured images; and performing the non-uniform downsampling of the captured images in accordance with the receiving of the indication.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the non-uniform downsampling of the received captured images comprises a flattening of a resolution density curve associated with one or more of the received captured images, the resolution density curve being representative of the resolution densities of at least a portion of each of the received captured images.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the non-uniform downsampling of the received captured images comprises increasing a curvature of a resolution density curve associated with one or more of the received captured images, the resolution density curve being representative of the resolution densities associated with at least a portion of each of the received captured images.

13. A non-transitory computer readable apparatus comprising a storage medium have one or more instructions stored thereon, the one or more instructions being configured to, when executed by a processing apparatus, cause a computerized apparatus to: receive captured images, the captured images obtained using two or more image sensors; non-uniformly downsample the received captured images based at least on a respective resolution density curve associated with each of the received captured images, the respective resolution density curve correlating to an amount of resolution present across at least a portion of each of the received captured images; and encode the non-uniformly downsampled images.

14. The non-transitory computer readable apparatus of claim 13 , wherein two of the received captured images each possesses an overlapping field of view and a singular field of view, and the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images comprises: a downsample of the singular field of view that is greater than a downsample of the overlapping field of view.

15. The non-transitory computer readable apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more instructions are further configured to, when executed by the processing apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to: cause a stitch of the non-uniformly downsampled images.

16. The non-transitory computer readable apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more instructions are further configured to, when executed by the processing apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to: cause transmission of the encoded non-uniformly downsampled image via a network interface.

17. The non-transitory computer readable apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more instructions are further configured to, when executed by the processing apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to: receive an indication of an area of interest within the received captured images, the area of interest comprising a subset of the received captured images; and cause performance of the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images in accordance with the received indication.

18. The non-transitory computer readable apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images comprises a flattening of the respective resolution density curve associated with at least one of the received captured images.

19. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images comprises a flattening of a resolution density curve associated with the resolution density associated with at least one of the received captured images, the flattening comprising (i) a decrease in resolution density proximate to a center of the at least one of the received captured images, and (ii) an increase in resolution density proximate to an edge of the at least one of the received captured images.

20. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the non-uniform downsample of the received captured images comprises an increase in curvature of a resolution density curve associated with the resolution density associated with one or more of the received captured images, the increase in curvature comprising (i) an increase of resolution density proximate to a center of the at least one of the received captured images, and (ii) a decrease in resolution density proximate to an edge of the at least one of the received captured images.